ABSTRACT

The childhood obesity epidemic is the critical health issue of our time. Researchers express concern that being overweight or obese in childhood will lead to health-related problems in adulthood. Indeed studies show that atherosclerosis begins in childhood and progresses into adulthood, leading to coronary heart disease (CHD) [1]. Childhood obesity is associated with increases in coronary artery fibrous plaques later in life [2]. Some of the strongest evidence of the relationship between obesity in childhood and disease comes from an analysis of the long-term follow-up of the Harvard Growth Study [3]. This study found 55 years after participation that obesity in adolescence increased the risk of disease and death regardless of subsequent adult body composition for men. The relative risk for all-cause mortality was 2.3, and 1.8 for coronary heart disease, in adults who were overweight as youth compared to adults who were lean as youth. Steinberger et al. reported that BMI at age 13 was correlated highly with BMI and total LDL cholesterol at age 22, and inversely correlated with glucose utilization [4]. The Bogalusa Heart Study confirmed that clustering of risk factors in childhood tracks into adulthood [5].